


Netflix and Chill

by midnightwriter



Category: Rush Hour (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Mentions of Daredevil but no spoilers, Romance, Silly, Spoilers for episodes 01 and 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-22
Updated: 2016-04-22
Packaged: 2018-06-03 17:12:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6619270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightwriter/pseuds/midnightwriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carter invites Lee for "Netflix and chill". But Lee doesn't know what Netflix is, much less what the phrase really means. At the end, he discovers both.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Netflix and Chill

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I know the show isn't the best thing out there. But I loved the movies when I was younger and I'm enjoying the show. I also felt the need to write and post something about it. I mean, I cannot accept to watch a show that has zero fanfictions written about it! Also, English isn't my first language and I don't have a beta. So I'll appreciate if you point mistakes and typos.
> 
> I really hope you enjoy! (if anyone ever reads this)

"It's the American way, Lee. You gotta learn it." Carter says while he and Lee walk out of the police station.

"Netflix and chill is the American way?" Lee asks with the same tone he always uses to clarify something he doesn't quite understand the concept. An expression he uses mostly when Carter is talking about anything that isn't police related.

"Yeah, man. You can't just go around running after criminals all the time, you gotta stop a little and Netflix and chill, y'know?"

"The way I see it, we spend too much time running away from criminals."

"Man, you can't go all Chinese police in here. We don't do this black and white thing, we Americans love some grey areas." Carter gets inside his car.

"You Americans are..." Lee doesn't know what to say next. So he just gets in the car and stays silent.

Since he moved to Los Angeles to try and find his sister and take down the Chinese organized crime association that she now is part of, he found himself in awkward and illegal situations. He has  broken more rules since he's been here than in his whole life in China. The sentiment of breaking the rules makes him few anxious and corrupted, but Carter is always there with his honest eyes and mouth full of lies to convince him to do just one more thing for him. Lee chooses not to think about the fact that he has never broken a rule for someone before meeting this man.

"Ok. So Netflix and chill it is! First, what kind of pizza do you want? Second, do you feel like watching Daredevil season two? I've been dying to watch, but it's just work, work, work." Carter says the last three words in rhythm, something out of a song, but Lee just doesn't know what that is supposed to mean. "No? You didn't get that reference? Man, you're telling me you don't have Rihanna in China?"

"I have no clue what is that."

"Then, third, you gonna get yourself music educated on this ride home."

Carter turns the radio on and changes stations until he finds out the one he wants, the one playing what he later explains as the latest released song from a singer called Rihanna. Lee pays attention to the man's explanations and pretends to understand what the singer is singing and failing. He rarely understands his partner's music taste anyway.

They arrive at Carter's apartment, which is nothing similar to the one Lee used to have in Hong Kong. The place is a bit of a mess. Obviously, a place habited by a single man who doesn't bring people in often. Lee understands that this might be important to the man, letting someone in his house. A gesture of intimacy and trust, something they've been trying to build since day one, but Lee has the strange feeling of being the only one making an effort, the only one giving in. He doesn't like how easily he has been giving in to Carter's most crazy and most illegal wishes.

However, now that he's thinking about it, he thinks that Carter has been making an effort in different ways, such as allowing Lee inside his home; letting Lee chose the radio station they'll listen to, even if he usually changes it or turn it down soon after; trusting Lee enough to introduce him to Grandmother; and asking for his help, ready to receive a 'no' as an answer but always expecting a 'yes'. Lee smiles to himself and rapidly hides any signs of it.

"This place is a mess." Lee simply says.

"Not all of us are robots, Lee. We can't spend all of our free time cleaning. We actually have to sleep when we're not kicking asses."

As the American speaks, Lee can notice how he rearranges some of the objects out of place to what Lee assumes is his bedroom, then closes its door. He takes this few seconds alone to let his eyes wander to the small apartment. The kitchen is separated from the living room by a balcony, that has two tall stools placed next to it. There's a small corridor that must lead to the bathroom and the room he's assuming is Lee's bedroom. This place is bigger than his apartment in Hong Kong.

There are portraits on the shelves and Lee can recognize Grandmother, Gerald, Didi and Derrick standing next to Carter in them. The shelves are filled with CDs, books, DVDs and random objects. There are some framed vinyl' and movies' posters hanging on the walls. The furniture is very colorful, nothing in white, unlike Lee's old apartment. He feels strange at how much he doesn't miss his old place. He misses China, his country, and his real home, but he doesn't miss the small apartment almost without furniture. Right now, seeing how homely this place feels, Lee senses how far away from home he is and how he doesn't even know if China could ever be home again without his sister by his side. He clears these thoughts from his mind when Carter speaks again.

"I'm gonna call the pizza. You can sit there." He points at the red sofa.

Lee sits there awkwardly while Carter speaks to whoever is on the other side of the phone. Lee is almost sure that Carter knows the person because he's talking in that cheerful tone he uses for people he knows and like. Then, he turns it off and goes to the fridge, where he takes two beer bottles, giving one to Lee.

"Thank you."

"You're one polite robot, aren't you?" Carter chuckles while sitting next to him. Lee ignores the yet another reference about him being a robot and Carter turns on the TV.

Soon, many miniatures of movies and TV shows posters appear on the screen and Lee is more or less fascinated by this new thing. A red stripe has the name "Netflix" on it in capital letters. Well, this must be the Netflix he has been hearing so much about since he came to the USA.

"Man, I still cannot believe that you don't have Netflix in China."

"My country is not often open to western interference."

He deadpans, not feeling apt to discuss Chinese politics against western politics right now. Usually, he and Carter can spend hours talking about differences between their countries, but today, after spending five days straight with almost no sleep pursuing the human traffic cartel, he really isn't in the mood. He still is wondering how Carter has managed to convince him to not go straight home to finally get a decent night of sleep.

"But you told me you have McDonald's! That's the biggest symbol of globalization. Uh, globalization! That's a big word. Your dictionary disease must be spreading." Carter comments and, once again, laughs at his own joke.

At first, Lee has thought this as another of the many annoying habits the American detective has, but just like all the other habits of the man, he has grown to like it. He hides the quirk of his lips taking a sip of his beer.

Soon, he's watching a strange show about a blind man with special abilities that tries to do justice with his own hands while wearing a red tight outfit. Lee understands why Carter seems so interested in the show, people trying to overcome real law enforcement to bring justice to those in need is exactly what Carter has been doing his whole life as a cop. Bending the real rules to mold them to your own set of rules and expecting the world around you to allow it, as long as you're doing more good than harm. It's a dangerous way of thinking and acting, Lee suspects. Living like this, the line between what is wrong and what is right gets too thin for people to know when they are about to cross it. He has seen it happen before with men and women that he has locked behind bars. Although, America really seems to love this manner of thinking, having so many TV shows and movies about this sort of people living on top of that thin line of right and wrong, good and evil.

The pizza is delivered while they're halfway through the first episode and they eat it. Carter murmurs something about pizza being one constant around the world and Lee tells him about the many different flavors they have in China. At some point, the younger detective tells he's giving up on understanding Chinese people. Lee wishes that he could quit so easily to trying to understand American people.

As things happen on screen, Carter explains some things about the past season of the show. He talks about many things that have nothing to do with the show, too. Lee's positively sure that his partner cannot keep his mouth close, not even if his life depended on it. He remembers Carter being gagged by those security guards and still making noises and trying to speak.

By what Carter calls, the magic of Netflix, Lee is soon invested in everything that is happening on screen, to the point that he doesn't pay attention when Carter puts his arms on the back of the couch, right behind his head. Or the way that suddenly they're much closer to each other than when they first had taken their places on the couch. Or the glances Carter is giving him every few minutes.

Therefore, he doesn't see it coming when he turns to Carter and the man is close, face turned to his, looking at Lee with an intensity he hasn't seen yet on the man. His heart skips a beat or two and he holds his breath without noticing, swallowing in reflex.

It's true, he doesn't need fear. He hasn't felt it for quite some time because fear isn't useful, it's an impediment. Fear keeps you from doing what you have to do in order to make you a coward. Jonathan Lee is not a coward and has never been. Yet, he's feeling that overwhelming sensation of fear burning his skin and paralyzing him.

His brain takes a few minutes to understand what Carter is, for the first time, not saying with his mouth but only with his body language. A leap of faith on his part. He's expecting Lee to say yes or no to this unanswered question of his. To move closer or farther way. Behind the determination in his eyes, Lee sees the thousand of feelings he's trying to hide. The uncertainty, the fear, the anxiety. Lee sees this as an act of courage and tries to come up with an exit to this situation that won't end up with him and his partner breaking their partnership so soon.

However, his body is showing in every possible way that he wants this. His subconscious has been asking for this and making him move towards Carter slowly and inconspicuously. And, even if his mind provides him a thousand reasons why this is so wrong and unacceptable, he's moving closer and closer to the other man.

Then their lips are touching and all reason is gone from his brain. All logic is forgotten. He's suddenly crossing that thin line between right and wrong, not caring about it. He's stepping in that grey area he hates so much. And right now he's loving it, leaving all of his worries to later, to a moment when he'll be able to properly reflect about all of this. Right now he's too busy enjoying the moment and being reckless.

Suddenly, he understands a little bit more about being American.

Afterwards, when he's falling asleep between Carter's sheet and next to the man's body, his mind is still too dazed to properly consider anything else than this being exactly what he needed. That this strange place on the other side of the globe is becoming closer to a home than he has thought possible. Maybe this is the universe trying to even the score, it has taken so much from him and now it is giving him something back, something worth crossing all the lines, breaking all the rules and able to change everything to better.

**Author's Note:**

> China is one of the few countries in the world that doesn't have Netflix, so I assumed Lee never heard of it before. And Carter may or may not have taken advantage of this fact to introduce Lee to the real meaning of 'Netflix and chill'. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
> 
> I could choose any other show, but Daredevil season two is on of the most recent to be released and seems like something Carter would watch.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this silly little fic of mine. And your feedback is always appreciated!


End file.
